Last opportunity to live in one of Surry Hills true heritage warehouse conversions

….the iconic Griffiths Tea building on Wentworth Avenue on the fringe of the CBD, and a similar old warehouse building located in the heart of eastern Surry Hills near Crown Street and has a recent affiliation with fashion, including being the set for the filming of the current series of Australia’s Next Top Model.

Both buildings were constructed in the early 20th century and offer the same amazing original character features – brick facades, large exposed timber columns and beams, and soaring 3 – 4m ceiling heights and oversize timber windows.

The iconic Griffiths Tea building.

Both projects are being undertaken by the Cornerstone Property Group, which has a history of over 20years and 60 projects and becoming known for creating design-led adaptive reuse projects from old heritage buildings. Last year, Cornerstone’s project Cleveland & Co, turning two heritage-listed buildings in nearby Redfern into a boutique 39-apartment block, sold out off-the-plan in record time. Other recent projects by Cornerstone include the Casba project on Danks Street, Waterloo and Holt & Hart commercial office and retail building in Surry Hills.

The Griffiths Tea building, lying empty and boarded up for the last 30 years and one of the most sought after buildings in the city, will be given new life by Alex Popov of architects PopovBass.

They have fabulous character. These are both big, robust buildings, and both have teams of the highest calibre in all areas working on them. The results will be fantastic.

“We love buying these beautiful assets and refurbishing them in a way that pays homage to the original building,” says Stuart Pollard, the Cornerstone development manager who’s overseeing the conversion of the striking seven-level building into 38 apartments with a ground floor retail offering.

The iconic Griffiths Tea building.

“These heritage buildings have incredible volume and light, when combined with the original timber ceilings and structure there’s just nothing like them anymore.”

His colleague, Nick Wyeth, is looking after the other building, which in conjunction with Iain Halliday of BKH architects will also be fully restored to its original grandeur and adapted into 45 warehouse apartments and penthouses together with restaurant and creative commercial spaces on the lower floors.

“The original building is extraordinary. We’ll take away any later additions that are intrusive to that true original character and celebrate the original heritage features and elements to create true warehouse-style apartments. It’s an entirely unique apartment project – the heritage and character building, the amazing design by Iain and the fantastic location – its an extremely rare combination, the likes of which I don’t think have been offered before in Sydney. And unlikely to be after,” Wyeth says.

The iconic Griffiths Tea building.

Heritage architect Graham Brooks of Graham Brooks and Associates is consulting to both projects and says it’s all about how you breathe new life back into old buildings, while conserving their romance and charm.

Both warehouse projects are already the talk of Surry Hills – a suburb popular with everyone from hipsters, young professionals, investors, families and downsizers.

Sales of the 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments is scheduled to begin in July following development approval from City of Sydney, with display galleries being created within each of the buildings. Completion is expected in summer 2016/17.

The iconic Griffiths Tea building.

Caroline Fagerlund, director residential projects of sales agents CBRE, says both projects are rare opportunities to own a heritage home right on the edge of the city. “We’ll be seeing Sydney icons reborn, and this is a chance to be a part of that transformation,” she says.

“The Griffiths Teas building is right on the edge of the city, immediately accessible for the CBD based professional. The other building is in a part of Surry Hills that’s the hub of the creative industries and designer and lifestyle shopping, and already home to some of Sydney’s best restaurants like Movida, Longrain, Nomad and El Loco. It has a vibrant liveliness about it.”